For dinner tonight, I tried out a recipe I found on the back of a can of diced tomatoes with green chilies. And it turned out pretty good! Fusilli with Tex-Mex Meat Sauce!

Avatar

OH MY GOD. WHERE TO EVEN BEGIN. IT WAS LIKE LET'S MAKE EVERYTHING IMPORTANT HAPPEN ON ONE DAY.

First of all, ALL THOSE RETURNING CHARACTERS. I could have lived without ever seeing the swamp folk again, but Hugh's awesome Seaweed Monster kicked ass. Teo in a motherfucking tank! Haru with motherfucking facial hair! THE BOULDER! Hippo! The Mechanist! Pipsqueak! The Duke! Unfortunately, most of them didn't really get a chance to shine during the actual battle, but token appearances are still appreciated, right?

Aang kissed Katara! For reals this time! Awwww.

And then the crazy invasion! With the SUBMARINES POWERED BY WATERBENDING OMG. And the WATERBENDING ICED TORPEDOES. And the CATERPILLAR TANKS. And the SEAWEED MONSTER. And the METEOR SWORD SLICING THROUGH METAL. And Hakoda dying horribly not dying but being badly hurt.

While exciting and full of fighting and excitement, "The Invasion" was really all setup for the kickass "The Eclipse."

I was disappointed that Toph didn't appear to be doing much during the battle, but she got to be useful as hell before the eclipse. Navigating underground tunnels! Crunching through metal doorways! Earning Sokka's eternal gratitude and/or love!

About ten minutes into the episode, I reminded myself that Azula knew about the eclipse, although we didn't really know what her plan was. I did not expect her to play SUPER AWESOME DECOY LADY. BEING A PRETTY GOOD LIAR. ASSISTED BY THE MOTHERFUCKING DAI LI!

And then, oh my God, that conversation in the corridor was so completely fucking hilarious, we were dying. I rewound so we could watch it again.

"That's what your friend just said. SINCE YOU CAN'T SEE, I SHOULD TELL YOU I'M ROLLING MY EYES."

It's like Azula has read the Evil Overlord Handbook and the Anime Cliché Handbook and is deliberately defying everything in them. AIN'T NO SMACKDOWN LIKE AN AZULA SMACKDOWN.

And Suki!! Suki's alive!! Because you know if Azula had killed her, she would have damn well told Sokka.

"Oh, sounds like the Firebending's back on." HOW CAN ONE TEENAGE SOCIOPATH BE SO AWESOME??? I LOVE YOU AZULA PLEASE DON'T KILL ME.

Meanwhile!

Meanwhile!!

I...they pulled a bait-and-switch on us! The eclipse wasn't about Aang's confrontation with the Fire Lord. It was about Zuko's. And Zuko. Zuko! ZUKO!!! Everyone's being all proud of Aang and Sokka and everyone else but LET'S ALL BE FUCKING PROUD OF ZUKO. He finally discovered self-awareness! He stood up to his crappy dad! God, the kid has grown over the series. Finally, he sees that his dad kind of SUCKS, and he doesn't need his approval. And I didn't even expect him to go so far as to, like, completely denigrate the Fire Nation, but yes. He's gained so much perspective recently.

And his choosing to join the Avatar now makes so much more sense than it would have in "Crossroads of Destiny." Like I said, he's gained perspective, and he's more equipped to evaluate what it is he truly wants. It's earned, rather than simply expected. Especially now that he knows Aang is his great-grandfather. (Sidenote: is adhering to "destiny" really making a choice about what you truly want?)

Confirmation that it really was Ursa who killed Azulon! Finally! And confirmation that she's totally alive! FIND YOUR MOMMY, ZUKO!

Ozai can shoot lightning! And Zuko can GIVE IT BACK.

I've said it once, and I'll say it again: Zuko has one of the best character arcs I've ever seen. It's organic and consistent and real and fascinating and maddening and satisfying all at the same time.

And, holy crap. I did not expect them to fail so spectacularly. I knew they would fail, obviously, but I expected them to retreat and regroup. Not...get everyone captured. But, storywise, this all makes complete sense. The final confrontation with the Fire Lord should be just Team Avatar. And it shouldn't be during an eclipse: Aang needs to use Firebending.

OH GOD BY THE WAY IROH MOTHERFUCKING BROKE OUT OF PRISON HELL YEAH. MILK THAT ECLIPSE FOR ALL IT'S WORTH.

And now The Duke and Haru and Teo are joining Team Avatar? Appa's going to be crowded. Maybe they can all just chill at the Western Air Temple. And I cannot wait to watch Zuko attempt to join Team Avatar. He's good now, guys! Really!

EXCEPT HIS HIT ON AANG STILL STANDS. WHAT ABOUT COMBUSTION MAN?? THIS WON'T END WELL.

Friday Night Lights

Well, it was nice of the promo to give away the last minute of the goddamn episode. Jesus fucking Christ, whose fucking idea is it to pull shit like that?

Comments:

I admit, watching (re-watching thanks to our friends overseas) Avatar, I all but expected Iroh to tell the nice guard to meet him at a teahouse down the road and wear something nice. Possibly it was just implied via body language.

I totally expected Azula to say 'Hey, daddy, guess what, you can't firebend and I've got a secret society of Earthbenders, guess who's the new firelord?' But no, she was loyal in her completely screwed up way!

Well, it was nice of the promo to give away the last minute of the goddamn episode. Jesus fucking Christ, whose fucking idea is it to pull shit like that?Seriously, right? And that was my reaction after seeing the promo after the last episode, was gee, nice to give away the BIG SHOCKER, huh?

Still, I was actually weeping as Landry walked down that corridor, so I guess knowing what happened didn't remove the emotional impact entirely.

I need a new Zuko icon, 'cause he's not emo angstypants anymore!

You know when Zuko was giving his (AWESOME, HEARTWARMING) speech, and we got that weird "camera" angle looking down from Ozai's ceiling? Did anyone else think it was Iroh watching? That he snuck into the tunnels to. . .whatever. . .and overheard the whole thing? I know it would be way too convenient, but it would also save us the part of the season dedicated to waiting for them to reunite. Also, I LOVE the idea that Azula and Ozai think their sooooo safe and have everything planned out, and there's Iroh crouching in the shadows, more powerful than either of them.

I want my new icon to say something funny about how he's the original Peter Peterelli, but it's too early in the morning for me to think of wha tthat would be.

Man, I was so goddamn proud of Zuko. And you're right... it was completely organic, and wouldn't have been last season. (Brett felt that Zuko returning to the fire nation was bad writing, but I told him to be patient and that it would pay off. I love being right!)

Before this, Zuko joining Team Avatar would have felt cheap, but now it feels TOTALLY RIGHT OMG.

I'm worried though about the Zuko/Katara/Aang angle now though.

I'm excited to finally see Iroh kick some ass again (hopefully). I saw an earlier episode a little while ago and was like "Damn, I miss Iroh SO MUCH!"

Toph is teh awesome.

I cracked up at Azula's lines too. "the firebending is back on!" Heeeeeeeeeeeee.

All in all, a fantastic fucking episode and I WANT MORE DAMMIT RIGHT NOW!!!

(Brett felt that Zuko returning to the fire nation was bad writing, but I told him to be patient and that it would pay off. I love being right!)How is that bad writing?! It was the unexpected choice! Zuko was on the path to goodness; everyone expected him to choose Good in the cave!

Before this, Zuko joining Team Avatar would have felt cheap, but now it feels TOTALLY RIGHT OMG.But now he can choose Good, totally!

ZUKO! That was completely excellent. I was thinking the same thing, that he never would have had as much conviction and confidence in his decision if he'd decided to join up at the end of season two. He would have always wondered if things could have gone a different way, and whether he might have been able to get his father's love and respect back somehow. This way, he has no illusions about his father and the Fire Nation, and does what he does because that's the way he is, not because of circumstances. So much more satisfying! I was a little disappointed at the end of season two even though I completely understood the decision and knew he would eventually figure things out, but now everything that came before just seems inevitable. I love it when that happens.

This way, he has no illusions about his father and the Fire Nation, and does what he does because that's the way he is, not because of circumstances.Yeah, you could tell all this season that he was just sort of WTF about the Fire Nation having been away from it for so long. Like he said, he's learned a lot, and he'd learned it on his own! Not from the FN propaganda machine.

Well I knew Tim would make it back on the team but I like the way they did it. His BVD-wearing roommate skeeved me out! For a second, I thought they were gonna have him come on to Tim. So glad they didn't go there. I was kinda annoyed that Lila was the one to convince Landry to tell the truth. It made sense, but I was still annoyed. Can she stop playing Jiminy Cricket to everybody's Pinocchio? Man, Smash can run!

Remember last week when we were talking about promos and I explained how I didn't watch them and you said you did? And then in the last two episode posts of yours I've read you bitched about spoilery promos? I rest my case.

It depends on your definition of "good." I enjoyed it. It's supremely cheesy and predictable, but it's also very sweet and sincere, so if you just go with it, it's fine. I would say it's a rental, or a matinee if you're in the mood.